Léon Kann

Léon Kann was born 1859 in Dambach-la-Ville, in the Alsace region of France. He studied sculpture with Aimé Millet and distinguished animalier sculptor Pierre Louis Rouillard. He concentrated on smaller decorative pieces which he exhibited in the Salons of the Sociéte des Artistes Français. He was a designer at the Sévres Porcelain Manufactory from 1896-1915. Alexander Sandier, the artistic director of Sévres, embraced the Art Nouveau style and called upon prominent designers of the period to create daring new forms, glazes and decoration. Léon Kann was amongst this group of designers, which included Hector Guimard, Joseph Chéret and Henri Lassere. This was a period of time at Sévres when delight in experimentation and indulgence in creativity were encouraged. Kann's brilliant designs perfectly captured the spirit of the Art Nouveau era. He was greatly inspired by natural forms and the mottled glazes of Asian ceramics. He was a master of artfully incorporating the different parts of a plant to create curling tendril-like handles on naturalistic forms.